The mindset in postmodernism is that objective truth does not exist. But in post-truth, the person believes that objective truth exists, but they subordinate truth to their preferences, or their comfort. In other words, one doesn’t care that truth exists or what the truth is if it doesn’t line up with one’s preferences. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. Faith in Jesus Christ is our response to God's elective purpose in our life. These two truths–God's initiative and man's response–co-exist throughout the Bible. The gospel is "the message of truth" because truth is its predominant characteristic. Salvation was conceived by the God of truth (Ps. 31:5); purchased by the Son, who is the truth (John 14:6); and is applied by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). To know it is to know the truth that sets men free (John 8:32). Believers are people of the truth (John 18:37), who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and who obey the Word of truth (John 17:17). People have rejected, neglected, redefined, and opposed God’s truth for centuries. Some cynically deny that truth even exists or that it can be known by men (John 18:38). Others foolishly think that denying truth will somehow make it go away. Truth determines the validity of one's belief. Believing a lie doesn't make it true. Conversely, failing to believe the truth doesn't make it a lie. The gospel is true because Jesus is true, not simply because Christians believe in Him. His resurrection proved the truth of His claims and constitutes the objective basis of our faith (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:3). Truth is our protection and strength (Eph. 6:14). Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. At the heart of every false religion is the notion that man can come to God by any means he chooses–by meditating, doing good deeds, and so on. But Scripture says, "There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus Christ, and we come to Him by confessing and repenting of our sin, trusting in His atoning death on the cross, and affirming His bodily resurrection from the grave (cf. Rom. 10:9-10). There is no other way to God. False religious leaders and teachers talk much about God’s love, but not His wrath and holiness; much about how deprived of good things people are, but not about their depravity; much about God’s universal fatherhood toward everyone, but not much about his unique fatherhood toward all who believe in His Son; much about what God wants to give to us, but nothing about the necessity of obedience to Him; much about health and happiness, but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is full of gaps, the greatest of which leaves out a biblical worldview of the saving gospel and replaces it with the worldview of postmodernism with its dominant ethical system of relativism. The Bible describes mankind in the end times: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but that human wisdom is defective, because it’s tainted by man’s sinfulness, and unable to perceive the things of God. That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. Scripture is divinely revealed truth that fills the vacuum of spiritual ignorance in all of us. Post-truth is the word of the year for 2016 and also the philosophy of the day, According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. In a “post-truth” world, people make choices based on emotion and experience rather than objective fact. So in a post-truth world, truth is irrelevant. What exactly is a post-truth culture? It’s a culture where truth is no longer an objective reality. It has become subjective. It’s what’s true for me—my beliefs, my opinions, determine my truth. So in our post-truth culture, man determines truth. Man makes himself the ultimate authority. This starting point, which rejects God’s Word and the idea of moral absolutes, makes truth subjective. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Objective truth exists because we have God’s Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). The Psalmist says, “The entirety of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus Himself said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks all roads lead to God. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus].” This blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell

Daily Archives: July 30, 2015

Republican lawmakers have opened a new avenue of attack on the Iran nuclear accord by criticizing what they call “secret side deals” governing the inspection process that will be withheld from Congress. Confidential agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities, emerged as a key point of contention with Republicans at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

New York and New Jersey agree that a new tunnel is crucial to avoid damaging the economy of the nation’s largest city and its prosperous western suburbs.

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week after reaching a four-decade low, consistent with a stronger labor market. Jobless claims increased by 12,000 to 267,000 in the period ended July 25.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it’s preparing for a “prolonged downturn” by cutting 6,500 jobs this year and plans to reduce capital investment by $7 billion over the next two years.

If oil hits $40, Russia is in trouble. Already faced with recession and sanctions, a further drop in crude might force the country’s central bank into an emergency rate hike – after four cuts already this year.

Bill Gross said the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September, because the central bank increasingly realizes that loose monetary policy isn’t helping the global economy. “The Fed begins to recognize that zero percent interest rates increasingly have negative, as well as positive consequences,” Gross wrote. “Low interest rates are not the cure — they are part of the problem.”

AP Top Stories

A sea-crusted wing part washed up on an island in the western Indian Ocean may be the first trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 since it vanished nearly a year and a half ago, and a tragic but finally solid clue to one of aviation’s most perplexing and expensive mysteries.

Eight people from the same family, including two minors, were kidnapped by masked gunmen and their decapitated bodies were found days later in northern Mexico, authorities said.

Boko Haram Islamists slit the throats of 10 fishermen in villages near Baga on the shores of the Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, a leading fisherman and a resident said Thursday.

A small goat was nearly decapitated and another goat died from a “heinous” knife attack on the animals in a fenced and locked site where they had been placed to graze on weeds in northern Idaho, a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

A deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that killed two people and sickened 31 is under investigation in the South Bronx section of New York City, health officials said on Wednesday.

The population of the world’s seabirds has plummeted 70 percent in the past 60 years, a Canadian-Australian research team has found. The drop is equivalent to the disappearance of around 230 million seabirds since 1950, according to a statement from the University of British Columbia, where some of the researchers are based.

A Florida gun store that proclaimed itself a Muslim-free zone was sued on Wednesday in federal court by the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on the grounds that the restriction is discriminatory.

BBC

President Obama has signed an executive order calling for the US to build the world’s fastest computer by 2025. The supercomputer would be 20 times quicker than the current leading machine, which is in China.

In the US, poverty, deprivation and exploitation draw thousands of its own children down into a dark underworld that offers few ways out. It is a world few Americans are aware of. But tens of thousands of American children are thought to be sexually exploited every year. It’s believed that every night hundreds are sold for sex.

Russia has said it will not tolerate “interference” by foreign organizations after it put a US pro-democracy foundation on a blacklist.

The Taliban have appointed a successor to Mullah Omar, who led the movement for some 20 years. The death of Mullah Omar – reported by the Afghan government on Wednesday – was confirmed by the Taliban on Thursday,

A truck in central Mexico has ploughed into a religious procession, killing at least 16 pilgrims and injuring about 30.

Several bills will come before the Australian parliament when it resumes next month proposing same-sex marriage be legalized.

The Israeli parliament has passed a law allowing the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike.

WND

Donations to the Clinton Foundation by Swiss bank UBS increased tenfold after Hillary Clinton intervened to settle a dispute with the IRS early in her tenure as secretary of state, according to a published report.

The “Wall Street wing” of the Republican Party is working with Democrats and LGBT rights activists to pass sweeping legislation that would make it a federal crime to discriminate against homosexuals and transgenders in housing, education and the job market.

A new audit from the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office shows the $2.4 billion taxpayers loaned the federal government to implement an Obamacare overhaul demanded by President Obama did not bring the promised results, and in fact, could prove to be a total waste.

The temporary injunction from Los Angeles Superior Court was granted at the request of StemExpress, which has been identified as a company that procures “tissue” – essentially body parts of aborted infants, from Planned Parenthood, which is the focus of the undercover video series.

Federal judge threatens to hold IRS chief in contempt
A federal judge threatened to hold IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in contempt Wednesday after the IRS failed to produce, as ordered, newly recovered emails of former IRS official Lois Lerner. “If there is further noncompliance, I will haul into court the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to show cause why that person should not be personally held in contempt of court. I can’t make that any clearer,”

Iraqi MP: ‘Iraq should establish ties with Israel, we share interests’
Asked about who created the Islamic State, al-Alusi rebuffed wide-spread conspiracy theories linking the extremist groups to non-Arab, non-Islamic actors. “It is our creation, not a Western or European or Crusader or Jewish or Israeli creation. It is a creation of the Arabs and Muslims, because we have failed to protect our society and have allowed these extremist views –to exist.”

Earthquake Hits Israel, No Injuries, Damage Reported
A 4.3-magnitude earthquake occurred early Thursday in Israel. The quake was centered on an area near the Dead Sea, and several people reported feeling its effects in southern Israel. Residents of the north also said they felt vibrations, and investigators are checking whether there were indeed two quakes around the same time.

CISA: the dirty deal between Google and the NSA that no one is talking about
One of the things that civil liberties activists like to lament about is that the general public seems to care more about Google and Facebook using their personal data to target advertising than the government using it to target drone strikes. The reality is that both types of abuse are dangerous, and they work hand in hand.

Alien swarm? 10 UFO-like objects filmed flying over Japan
A video shot in Japan’s port city of Osaka has been making the rounds online, displaying a swarm of white spherical objects of unknown origin flying across the sky. The low-quality footage has triggered speculation over extra-terrestrial life and UFOs.

Out of Shadows: New tech allows face recognition in utter darkness
German researchers have developed a new technology that can identify a person in poor lighting or even in absolute darkness thus potentially solving one of the main issues of the modern face recognition systems. …Saquib Sarfraz and Rainer Stiefelhagen…created a system that analyzes mid- or far-infrared images and matches them with the ordinary photos thus allowing the people’s faces to be recognized.

Sex trafficking: Lifelong struggle of exploited children
In the US, poverty, deprivation and exploitation draws thousands of its own children down into a dark underworld that offers few ways out. It is a world few Americans are aware of. But tens of thousands of American children are thought to be sexually exploited every year. It’s believed that every night hundreds are sold for sex.

Russia warns US as NGO blacklisted as ‘undesirable’
Russia has said it will not tolerate “interference” by foreign organisations after it put a US pro-democracy foundation on a blacklist. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), funded by the US Congress, is the first organisation to be labelled “undesirable” under a new Russian law. Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that “we will never tolerate mentoring and open interference in our affairs by foreign structures”.

Iraqi MP: ‘Iraq should establish ties with Israel, we share interests’
…Iraqi MP and leader of the Ummah Party, Mithal al-Alusi, called on Iraq to establish ties with Israel and expressed hope to see an Iraqi embassy in Israel at some point in the near future. …[he] referred to diplomatic relations with Israel as “our [Iraqi] interest,” and added that he does not want Baghdad’s interests to be solely to “Abu Mazen,” the name by which Mahmoud Abbas is commonly referred to in the Arab World.

Foreign Ministry calls Sunni Arab states ‘Israel’s allies’
The Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold, called the Middle East’s Sunni Arab nations “Israel’s allies.” …“What we have is a regime on a roll that is trying to conquer the Middle East,” Gold said of Iran, “and it’s not Israel talking, that is our Sunni Arab neighbors — and you know what? I’ll use another expression – that is our Sunni Arab allies talking.”

Alan Greenspan: This is ‘extremely dangerous’
While markets hone in on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy hints, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan sees a bigger economic irritant—government spending. On Wednesday, Greenspan decried a rise in entitlement costs, which he contended have pressured the U.S. economy.

Equality Obama-style: profiteering of neighborhoods, fetal organs
Every aspect of the Obama administration’s policy of creating equality in America has established the opposite goal. Better characterization of the policy would be that of ‘re-creating,’ as true equality was built into the founding documents at this nation’s outset. There is a dissembling penchant of this president to makeover the world according to his invalid, biased perspective.

Terror Arrest in Lackawanna (New York)
Arafat Nagi was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges that he attempted to support a designated terrorist organization. “Nagi attempted to join this terrorist organization, and specifically pledged allegiance to it and it’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” said US Attorney Bill Hochul.

Canadian Islam Converts Plotted to Kill Jewish Children
A Canadian courtroom was the scene for another revelation about the twisted mindset that animates Islamists. Amanda Korody, found guilty for her part in orchestrating a terrorist bomb plot, wanted to infiltrate a synagogue where she could kill “small Jews” so these children would be spared eternal damnation in hell.

Can Trump Win?
The GOP base is finally coming out of its economic superiority stupor and focusing on the only issue that has broad appeal to Americans: Law and order. Whether looking out at America’s collapsing boundaries of global influence or within at the pending domestic suicide of our cultural, judicial and economic hegemony, chaos is brewing in a cauldron of lawlessness.

Daily Digest

July 30, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition.” —Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 1791

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Barack Obama has said again and again that his immigration policies only deport the illegal immigrants who are the worst of the worst. But in prioritizing certain deportations, a Mexican who had no driver’s license, green card or birth certificate allegedly murdered a 60-year-old woman, attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl, and wounded another person. Juan Emmanuel Razo was only taken into custody July 27 after a shootout with Ohio law enforcement. But here’s the kicker: Immigration officials questioned Razo July 7 and decided to let him go; he had committed no crime at that point. This incident did not occur because of some local policy creating a sanctuary city — the policy that led to the murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. But Razo’s case is still anecdotal evidence that a tough immigration enforcement strategy might have stopped this violence. (No one said Donald Trump didn’t have a point.) Now that Razo’s charged with a string of violent crimes, justice demands a reckoning — and sloughing him off to where he came from is not an option. The municipal judge, Judge Michael Cicconetti, said at the arraignment, “I can’t set a bond high enough. How in the hell do I even know it’s him?” Indeed, how could ICE verify that Razo — if that’s his real name — didn’t commit a violent crime before?

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) has a fourth video out this morning, and their press release gives this description: “New undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ Vice President and Medical Director, Dr. Savita Ginde, negotiating a fetal body parts deal, agreeing multiple times to illicit pricing per body part harvested, and suggesting ways to avoid legal consequences.” Ginde, who was also a featured part of the third video, says, “We’d have to do a little bit of training with the providers or something to make sure that they don’t crush” a baby’s organs during second trimester abortions. She reveals that “sometimes … someone delivers before we get to see them for a procedure.” Which means potentially born-alive infants. Ginde also suggests, “Putting [this harvesting] under ‘research’ gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing.” In other words, they can avoid legal trouble. She goes on to describe talking to attorney Kevin Paul, who she says has “got it figured … because we talked to him in the beginning, you know, we were like, ‘We don’t want to get called on,’ you know, ‘selling fetal parts across states.’” Finally, the CMP press release says, “As the buyers and Planned Parenthood workers identify body parts from last fetus in the path lab, a Planned Parenthood medical assistant announces: ‘Another boy!'” Yes, another murdered and dismembered boy.

It’s no wonder that Planned Parenthood is working to silence coverage in the Leftmedia, which is all too happy to oblige. People know this is so offensive they’d rather get worked up about a poached lion in Africa than dismembered children for sale.

University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing, 25, faces 15 years to life in prison for the murder of Samuel Dubose on July 19. His body camera caught the entire traffic stop on film. When Tensing ordered Dubose out of the car, Dubose instead started the car and began pulling away. Tensing yelled “Stop!” and drew his gun, firing a single round into the back of Dubose’s head. Tensing later claimed he was being dragged by the car and he feared for his life. But Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said, “He wasn’t dealing with someone who was wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone who didn’t have a front license plate. This was, in the vernacular, a pretty chicken-crap stop. … I’m treating him like a murderer.”

There are undoubtedly cops who make terrible errors in judgment and abuse their power. Tensing appears to fall in this category, and we’re glad he was wearing a body camera to prove it. That practice should become more common. The one caution we’d add is that even this video doesn’t tell the whole story. Dubose had a lengthy record, though nothing violent, and he was not acting aggressively in this case. More important, every time a white officer kills a black man, leftists attempt to paint the entire law enforcement community with the same racist brush. Finally, on any given day in the U.S., there are 40 murders committed, frequently black on black. Who can name one?

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

Intraparty disagreements are hardly unusual in Congress, but when bickering moves from behind closed doors to the House floor, news is made. And Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) captured headlines this week by filing a motion to “vacate” the speaker’s chair — occupied, of course, by John Boehner.

In the motion, Meadows says Boehner has attempted to “consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority of the 435 members of Congress and the people they represent.” In an interview with radio host Mark Levin, Meadows added that he hopes his “colleagues will see that there’s something inherently wrong with the leadership that we have and it’s time for a change.”

It’s no secret Boehner doesn’t claim the title of conservative darling. This past January, House Republicans staged the largest defection from a sitting speaker in at least a century, with 25 members, including Meadows, voting for someone other than Boehner. And last month, 34 Republicans bucked Boehner by opposing the rule to bring Barack Obama’s trade bill to the floor. In retaliation, three of those members were kicked off the House whip team, and Meadows was given the option of resigning his subcommittee chairmanship or being demoted.

While dozens were willing to break from Boehner in these votes, far fewer are willing to seek his ouster. Indeed, Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ted Yoho (R-FL) are two of just a handful publicly to come out in support of Meadows, with Jones claiming that “too many times, [Boehner] has used that position to intimidate and coerce.”

Be that as it may, it’s for good reason that the ouster effort has received so little support, as it’s quite likely this conservative trio is hurting the cause more than helping it by working to remove Boehner right now. It’s one thing to seek meaningful and substantive change armed with a plan of action and a roadmap for moving forward; it’s another to come out with guns-a-blazin’ and no strategy for moving forward following a loss, let alone a win (which, incidentally, isn’t going to happen here).

Now, lest you stop reading, fearing a forthcoming endorsement of Boehner’s leadership or a call for conservatives not to rock the political boat, don’t worry, neither is going to happen. But rocking the boat so you get thrown off while the establishment remains standing does not make a strategic — or effective — approach. If anything, it stages a dog-and-pony show for the media with ticket proceeds benefitting the Left.

Meanwhile, although conservatives’ hopes that House business would shift their way following the 2010 and 2014 election waves haven’t fully materialized, the fact that more and more Republicans are willing to stand their ground against the establishment is a good sign and a clear indicator that the conservative voice in Congress is growing stronger. And Meadows’ effort is one of those signs.

By all means, House conservatives should continue to buck leadership when leadership compromises conservative values, marginalizes the concerns of their grassroots base or succumbs to the Left’s propaganda machine. The leadership is certainly guilty of those things. And by all means, House conservatives should continue to seek a conservative speaker when the opportunity next arises.

Strategy, however, means knowing which shots to take and which to hold — not because they’re not clear shots but because, in the long run, they don’t contribute to taking new ground. Conservatives are justifiably angry at the unwillingness of the leadership to stand strong on principle, but the rush to die on every hill is self-defeating.

At the end of the day, Speaker Boehner will emerge from Meadows’ effort unscathed, while the Leftmedia will have been handed a story packaged complete with a bow. In the fight for true change, conservatives can do better.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

OPINION IN BRIEF

Victor Davis Hanson: “For better or worse, illegal immigration is tied to race and ethnicity. No doubt, ignorant racism drives some to oppose illegal immigration. But by the same token, the advocates of open borders, many of them with strong ties to Mexico, would not be so energized about the issue if hundreds of thousands of Europeans or Africans were entering the U.S. illegally each year. There is too often a surreal disconnect about the perception of the U.S. in the immigration debate. Millions, we sometimes forget, are fleeing from the authoritarianism, racism, corruption and class oppression of Mexico. They have voted with their feet to reject that model and to choose a completely different — and often antithetical — economic, social, cultural and political paradigm in the United States. Somehow that bothersome fact is lost in the habitual criticism of a hospitable and magnanimous America. Then there is the matter of law. America went to war over the Confederate states’ nullification of federal laws. A century and a half later, do we really want hundreds of sanctuary cities, each declaring irrelevant certain federal laws that they find bothersome? For every left-wing city that declares immigration statutes inoperative, a right-wing counterpart might do the same with the Endangered Species Act, gun registration laws, affirmative action or gay marriage. The result would be chaos and anarchy, not compassion.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Here, I think, lies our real dilemma. Probably we cannot, certainly we shall not, retrace our steps. We are tamed animals (some with kind, some with cruel, masters) and should probably starve if we got out of our cage. That is one horn of the dilemma. But in an increasingly planned society, how much of what I value can survive? That is the other horn.” —C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Upright: “If you criticize a huge government program that hands out checks with virtually no strings attached, opponents say you must hate the poor. On the contrary: If you care about your fellow man, you know that turning him into a passive welfare recipient robs him of his dignity and often dooms his children to a soul-deadening cycle of poverty. Making sure that welfare is a true hand-up and not a hand-out is, in fact, the true compassionate stance. The problem is that many conservatives fail to frame the issues this way.” —Ed Feulner

Dezinformatsia: “In fact, [the Republican] party now might even reject Nixon and Reagan.” —Larry King

Village idiots: “I have seen pictures from [the Planned Parenthood videos] and obviously find them disturbing. Planned Parenthood is answering questions and will continue to answer questions. … [T]his raises not questions about Planned Parenthood so much as it raises questions about the whole process, that is, not just involving Planned Parenthood, but many institutions in our country. And if there’s going to be any kind of congressional inquiry, it should look at everything and not just one [organization].” —Hillary Clinton

Non compose mentis: “I think they have a policy of opposition to us and of great enmity, but I have no specific knowledge of a plan by Iran to actually destroy us.” —John Kerry

And last… “John Kerry said Iran won’t use any of their $150 billion in newly-unfrozen assets to fund terrorists, because ‘they’re not allowed to do that.’ Great. It’s foreign policy by ‘gun-free zone’ sign.” —Fred Thompson

Could you live without debt? Most Americans say that they cannot. According to a brand new Pew survey, approximately 7 out of every 10 Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”, and approximately 8 out of every 10 Americans actually have debt right now. Most of us like to think that “someday” we will get out of the hole and quit being debt slaves, but very few of us ever actually accomplish this. That is because the entire system is designed to trap us in debt before we even get out into the “real world” and keep us in debt until we die. Sadly, most Americans don’t even realize what is being done to them. (Read More…)

Most nations in South America are either already experiencing an economic recession or are right on the verge of one. In general, South American economies are very heavily dependent on exports, and right now they are being absolutely shredded by the twin blades of a commodity price collapse and a skyrocketing U.S. dollar. During the boom times in South America, governments and businesses loaded up on tremendous amounts of debt. Since much of that debt was denominated in U.S. dollars, South American borrowers are now finding that it takes much more of their own local currencies to service and pay back those debts. At the same time, there is much less demand for commodities being produced by South American nations in the international marketplace. As a result, South America is heading into a full-blown financial crisis which will cause years of pain for the entire continent. (Read More….)

Is Obama taking Hillary out?

Mr. Obama needs a successor whom he can control to ensure that the “fundamental transformation of the nation” continues. He cannot control either of the Clintons. In a revealing “tell” this week, he said, “In 18 months, I’m turning over the keys. I want to make sure I’m turning over the keys to somebody who is serious about the serious problems that the country faces and the world faces.”

Obama Cronyism + Your Personal Data = Trouble – Malkin

The most far-reaching scandal in Washington that no one wants to talk about

It’s the most far-reaching scandal in Washington that no one wants to talk about: Tens of millions of federal employees had their personal information hacked as a result of Obama administration incompetence and political favoritism.

Wake Up! Obama WANTS Iran to Nuke Israel

For the thousandth time: I am sick to death of Republican leaders refusing to acknowledge this criminal administration’s malicious intent, serial sabotage, and treasonous agenda. The longer Republicans mischaracterize the Obama administration’s actions as bungling, incompetent, inept, lacking leadership, weak, or out-of-touch, the more it appears that they are in collusion with the organized crime syndicate currently occupying the White House.

Barack Hussein Obama intends to make use of Iran in waging a proxy war against the nation of Israel which, as an Islamist (or at least an Islamist sympathizer), Obama loathes. Iran of course will be more than happy to serve in that role, once they have established a viable nuclear arsenal.

Networks Covered Cecil the Lion More in 1 Day Than Abortion Videos in 2 Weeks

According to the Media Research Center, in just one day, the various broadcast networks’ news programs have already given the death of Cecil the Lion more coverage than two weeks of videos that appear to show Planned Parenthood senior officials ghoulishly trafficking illegally in dead baby parts:

Obama, Kerry Opening the Door for Most Harm of Jewish People in History – Ben Stein

Wednesday on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show,” actor, author and former White House speechwriter Ben Stein said President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have “opened the door to more harm of Jewish people in the history of the world” with the Iran nuclear deal, which he called a “disgrace to humanity.”

Calling a potential nuclear attack by Iran on Israel a “second Holocaust in an afternoon,” Stein said,

In this piece Lee Duigon, contributing editor with the Chalcedon Foundation, laments over what he refers to as the Satanization of America. “It’s time we had great big statues of the Devil in all our major cities,” says Duigon. “We might as well be honest about who we are, or who we’re turning into.” We keep piling […]

Fox News has released another sting video along with this quote from Dr. Savita Ginde: “A lot of times, especially with the second [trimester fetuses], we won’t even put water, because it’s so big you can put your hand in there and pick out the parts.” Here’s the report:

A Colorado Planned Parenthood doctor stresses calling the harvesting of fetal tissue “research” and not “business” — and casually pokes around in a petri dish of aborted remains as a colleague exclaims, “Another boy!” — in the latest video released Thursday by an activist group whose hidden camera stings have imperiled the embattled nonprofit’s taxpayer funding.

The video’s release by the Center for Medical Progress comes a day after CMP was issued a restraining order preventing it from issuing any new footage of a group that worked with Planned Parenthood, StemExpress. But Thursday’s material focuses almost entirely on a woman identified as Dr. Savita Ginde, the vice president and medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

California Drought Could Wipe Cities Off Map If Their Water Runs Out

Because of the drought crisis in California, some people have lost everything. It’s far worse than most of us realize. According to a CBS Sacramento‘s report, one woman does dishes with bottled water. “In the days before help arrived, she didn’t use soap. She gave the leftover dishwater to her kids. Living in poverty with no running water, she may have to leave.” Wells and lakes are drying up, so families are packing up for Oregon, Illinois, Georgia — even Mexico to find work!

Iran: Obama Admin Lying About Nuclear Deal for ‘Domestic Consumption’

“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:21 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It is a curious feeling to be watching America energizing Iran and providing them with all the money, resources and time they need to become a nuclear military power. Barack Obama and John Kerry lie through their teeth daily to the American people about the Iranian Nuclear Deal, and like sheep to the slaughter we do nothing about it.

Senior Iranian officials are accusing the Obama administration of lying about the details of the recent nuclear accord in order to soothe fears among U.S. lawmakers and Americans about the implications of the deal, which will release billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic while temporarily freezing its nuclear program, according to reports from Iran’s state-controlled media.

As Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior Obama administration figures launch a full-court press to convince Congress to approve the deal, Iranian leaders are dismissing the rhetoric as “aimed at domestic consumption.”

Kerry and other top administration officials have been defending the deal on Capitol Hill in recent days, claiming that it will rein in the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program and fix its nuclear “breakout” period, the time required for it to obtain the amount of highly enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon, at one year.

Critics have noted that the deal provides Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief that could be spent on terrorism and lifts bans on Iran’s export of weapons and construction of ballistic missiles.

When addressing claims this week by the administration that the deal shuts down Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, Iranian officials scoffed and said that the Obama administration is misleading the public in order to sell the deal.

Sen. Marco Rubio to John Kerry: “Deal says that If Israel strikes Iran, US has to go against Israel”

Hamid Baeidinejad, an official in the Iranian foreign ministry and one of the country’s nuclear negotiators, scoffed on Wednesday at the Obama administration’s comments, saying that they were meant to placate an American domestic audience.

“The remarks by the western officials are ambiguous comments which are merely uttered for domestic use and therefore we should say that there is no ambiguity in this (nuclear) agreement,” the Fars news agency quoted Baeidinejad saying in an interview with state-controlled radio.

This is why Barack Obama cannot be trusted on the Iranian Nuclear Deal:

Baeidinejad said that the Obama administration is misleading Americans about the deal in order to “calm opponents in the Congress and Zionist lobbies to soothe the internal conditions prevailing over debates on the nuclear agreement in that country,” Fars, which is also run by the Iranian state, reported.

As Congress spends 60 days reviewing the deal, which it may reject, the Iranian parliament is undertaking the same task. During a meeting on Wednesday with Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran urged world powers to keep its commitments under the deal.

These includes lifting sanctions on the nearly $100 billion dollar financial empire of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and agreeing to bar American inspectors from all Iranian nuclear sites. source

“We have close to 300 hours total of undercover video that was gathered during a 30 month long in depth investigative journalism study of how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of the babies they abort,” Daleiden said, noting that each highlight video released will have the full footage posted on their website without any edits.

Planned Parenthood Uses Partial-Birth Abortions to Sell Baby Parts:

When asked by Hannity about criticism on whether local recording laws could harm CMP, Daleiden responded, “Every taping we did during this project was done in full compliance with the local recording laws. The video specifically from the pathology lab at the Planned Parenthood clinic that was included today, that was done in Denver, Colorado, which is a one party consent state, which is completely applicable.”

Daleiden added, “The California law is about confidential communications not those that can be overheard by anyone walking by, such as a situation in a crowded restaurant like the situations in the two previous tapes.” source

Graphic Showing What Happens To Person’s Body After Drinking Can Of Coca-Cola Goes Viral

1. In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

2. 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment.)

4. 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

5. 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

6. 60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

7. 60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

The “Wall Street wing” of the Republican Party is working with Democrats and LGBT rights activists to pass sweeping legislation that would make it a federal crime to discriminate against homosexuals and transgenders in housing, education and the job market. WND reported in earlier this month that the LGBT movement would not be content with the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states. The real goal of the activists, with the generous help of corporate backers, is to parlay the court’s ruling into a wide-ranging civil-rights agenda that weaves its way into almost every nook and cranny of American life – schools, the workplace, even the church.

And it will be corporate America that plays the role of difference-maker in getting U.S. politicians to implement the plan. The bill introduced last week in both houses of Congress is called the Equality Act. Forty senators, led by Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced “historic, comprehensive federal legislation to ban discrimination against LGBT Americans,” Merkley reported on his website. The legislation was filed simultaneously in the House by 158 lawmakers led by Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I. MORE

The epicenter of California’s drought crisis is in the Central Valley, where there are growing fears the drought could wipe entire towns off of the map. Wells are going dry, jobs are harder to come by and families are already moving, either to different states or even Mexico in search of work.

Before visiting Tulare County, a place where wells have gone dry and some people are living in third-world conditions, we went to a place deep in the Mojave Desert that offers a dire warning of what can happen when the water runs out. MORE

Mexico’s National Disaster Prevention Centre said in its daily report that the volcano registered a total of 80 low intensity exhalations and six explosions yesterday, releasing plumes of smoke between 1.5 and two kilometers high. Authorities are urging people not to get close to the volcano and particularly to its crater. Popocatepetl is the second tallest volcano in Mexico and is in the centre of the country.

Quake near Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano: A 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck in Alaska, some 42 miles southwest of the active Redoubt Volcano, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said. Notably, the earthquake also struck near Mt. Katmai, the site of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The epicenter was 9 miles south of Mt. Iliamna, another volcano in the area, the Alaska Dispatch News reported. According to the USGS, the quake hit about 141 miles southwest of Anchorage. The agency is forecasting “very light damage.” The earthquake was originally reported as having a magnitude of 6.2, but was later revised up slightly. USGS reported two minor tremors prior to the 6.3 magnitude one. Although the quake did not strike far from the Redoubt Volcano, there’s nothing to suggest activity has been triggered by the quake. There have been four confirmed eruptions at the volcano since the 20th century began, in 1902, 1966, 1989 and 2009. MORE

The House voted Monday to beef up White House security, including more weapons and defenses for the building and training for the Secret Service. The measure would be a helping hand after a series of scandals have left the agency responsible for protecting the president with its tail between its legs. The Secret Service Improvements Act of 2015 will provide extra training for agents, upgrade the White House’s security, and increase transparency.

The Secret Service has had a series of failures: multiple White House fence jumpers, including one who made it all the way into the building, and allegations that two agents drove a car into a White House barricade after drinking at a party. MORE

US Secretary of State John Kerry told a Republican lawmaker on Tuesday he did not know whether Iran sought to destroy the United States. The exchange, during Kerry’s latest testimony to Congress on the July 14 nuclear accord between world powers and Iran, appeared to catch Kerry off-guard. “Is it the policy of the ayatollah, if you can answer for him, that Iran wants to destroy the United States?”

Texas Republican Lloyd “Ted” Poe asked Kerry during the latter’s Tuesday appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Is that still their policy, as far as you know?” Kerry responded: “I don’t believe they’ve said that. I think they’ve said ‘Death to America,’ in their chants, but I have not seen this specific.” “Well, I kind of take that to mean that they want us dead,” Poe replied. “That would seem like that would be their policy. He said that. You don’t think that’s their policy? I’m not mincing words. Do you think it’s their policy to destroy us?” MORE

“I fear the day when technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” —Albert Einstein In my study I have a giant poster of one of my heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of his famous quotes is the following: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Today, I believe many people are being silenced having reached a breaking point. Because of distraction with electronic gadgets, a reluctance to stay engaged on unpopular issues, plus experiencing what seems like an avalanche of negative developments in our culture, many people are disconnecting or distancing themselves from news. They’re feeling disillusioned, discouraged and depressed.

I personally battle these very things. At times what’s happening in our nation seems overwhelming. Imagine if you’re ready to enroll at college in California and cultural confusion has brought us to the point where a student now checks a box answering the question, “What are you? 1. Male 2. Female 3. Transmale 4. Transwoman 5. Gender queer 6. Different identity.” Unbelievable! MORE

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has declined to accept an appeal of its order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state capitol grounds after it declared the presence of the display unconstitutional last month. “We carefully consider the arguments of the commission and find no merit warranting a grant of rehearing,” Chief Justice John Reif wrote on behalf of the nine justices, which ruled 7-2 not to accept the appeal.

As previously reported, the Oklahoma Supreme Court likewise ruled 7-2 last month that the monument must be removed because it violates Article 2, Section 5, of the Oklahoma Constitution, which states that property cannot be used to promote a “church denomination or system of religion.” “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such,” the section reads. MORE

Secretary of State John Kerry testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the U.S. government will not be revealing to the American people the contents of “secret side deals” made with Iran on its nuclear enrichment program. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a unit of the United Nations, has negotiated two side deals with Iran involving critical data collection processes. Astonishingly, Kerry himself said Wednesday that he has not read the agreements but has been “briefed” on their contents.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wanted to know why these deals can’t be made public. “Why can’t we confirm or deny the content of these agreements in public?” Cotton asked in a Senate hearing. “Why is this classified? It’s not a sensitive U.S. government document. The Ayatollahs know what they agreed to.” “Because we respect the process of the IAEA and we don’t have their authorization to reveal what is a confidential agreement between them and another country,” said Kerry. Cotton said, “So the ayatollahs will know what they agreed to but not the American people?” MORE

Claims that the Iran deal will spark a nuclear arms race in the region ignore the fact that Israel has led the race for the last 65 years. – The debate about the P5+1 agreement with Iran on its nuclear program has already produced a storm of angry rhetoric and a tsunami of opinion pieces. But one issue is notably absent from the debate: the fact that Israel has a nuclear weapons arsenal and sophisticated delivery systems that are decades ahead of anything Iran could develop in the foreseeable future. Iran should be constrained by a global regime from getting the bomb, but the notion that Israel is a weak powerless state like Czechoslovakia in 1938 is ludicrous.

The American intelligence community first detected the development of the Israeli nuclear weapons program through U-2 overhead imagery at the end of the 1950s. President John F. Kennedy pressed Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion very hard not to proceed with a weapons program, arguing it would precipitate a regional nuclear arms race. Under pressure from Kennedy, Israel agreed to American inspections of its French-supplied Dimona reactor, but then systematically blocked any serious inspection process. MORE

The Iran deal will provide Iran with a cash windfall as sanctions are eased and assets are unfrozen. The total amount is estimated to be as high as $150 billion. If so, the Iran deal would give more cash to Iran than the $124.3 billion U.S. has given in total aid to Israel since 1948. The exact amount that Iran would gain through the unfreezing of its foreign assets is a matter of some dispute. The Israeli ambassador has put the number at $150 billion; the Obama administration puts the number at $50 billion, since some of Iran’s assets “have already been obligated, including for projects with China,” the New York Times reports.

Others say the number is higher; Foreign Policy estimated the number at “north of $120 billion,” with an additional $20 billion per year in oil revenues, making the deal worth $420 billion over 15 years. If “north of $120 billion” is the best estimate, that would equal or surpass the total amount of U.S. aid to Israel since the country has been in existence, which the Congressional Research Service calculated to be $124.3 billion (in nominal terms) as of 2015. Even at the Obama administration’s low estimate, the cash freed to Iran by the deal would surpass total U.S. aid to Israel for the past 15 years, at minimum (roughly $3 billion per year). MORE

Only Two Religions!

I don’t know if you know this but there are only two religions in the entire world.

You might say I’m nuts. There are hundreds if not thousands!

But there is one religion that likes to put on hundreds if not thousands of different masks on, and so ultimately there are only two: the religion of Human Achievement and the religion of Divine Accomplishment.

You see Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism and every single religion that you have ever heard of, ultimately teaches some form of a works-based salvation. They say that you have to be a little more good than bad in order to make it to heaven. These religions encourage you to hand God a resume when you face Him one day. The resume will be filled with all your accomplishments. It will list everything you’ve done for other people, every penny you’ve given to charity and every good deed you’ve done. God will look over this resume and say, “Good job! You’ve made it into heaven”.

The problem is that if you were to enter into heaven because of a resume based on your accomplishments God would get no glory; you would be the one who gets all the praise. In fact, Ephesians 2:9 would say that salvation is not of works lest you should boast! Genesis chapter one shows us that God created the entire universe including you. Everything He created is designed to bring Him glory. The problem is that sin has entered the world, and from birth we all have replaced exalting God with exalting ourselves. Everything we do from birth is geared towards bringing us glory and bringing praise to ourselves. We all have a throne in our hearts that God should be sitting and reigning on, but instead we are born with ourselves sitting on it. We are so used to it we don’t even notice it to the point where we all think that our resumes are good enough to get us into heaven.

Of course we are going to think that we are good people! Of course my mom is going to tell me I’m a good person! But what does your Creator think? He says in Romans 3:23 that we all have sinned and fall short of His glory. He also says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. So if we stand before God and start listing accomplishments or hand Him a resume we might as well slap Jesus in the face because God is going to look at the resume and say, “I killed my only Son because you were not good enough to get to me!”

And that’s where the only other religion comes in.

The religion of Divine Accomplishment. God saw your situation, and decided that since man was so sinful and could not save himself, that He would come Himself and take the form of a man. He humbled himself, spent nine months in a womb he created, grew up with every temptation you and I face every day, but without sinning. He then died on the cross for our sins, and then rose from the dead and defeated death. He made it possible for human beings to stand before God one day and not hand Him a resume and condemn themselves further, but rather, tell God that they deserve His wrath but have placed their faith and trust in the work that Jesus did on their behalf on the cross and through His resurrection.

You see we need someone to be a substitute for us because no matter how hard we try, we can never bridge the gap between God and us. And the substitute can’t be merely a human. It must be God Himself.

Do you see the difference between Christianity and every other religion?

The Greatest Story Ever Told

What is The Gospel?

“My Last Day” — the Jesus Anime

9 powerful minutes of animation that begins with a thief behind bars watching the scourging of Jesus, and it ends with the thief dying next to Jesus, and waking to see Him in a beautiful place.

The dying thief: What was so great about his faith?

There are many acts of extraordinary faith in the Bible. The one that has impressed me the most concerns the dying thief on the cross. We could take the approach that he had nothing to lose, so he decided to cast his lot with Jesus. But this makes absolutely no sense of the text and the context.

In this conversion we have a specific fulfillment of Christ’s first words on the cross. No sooner had Christ spoken the words, “Father, forgive them,” had the Father answered that prayer by turning a once-reviling criminal into a Christ-glorifying saint. While the soon-to-be converted criminal was not directly responsible for Christ’s death, he nevertheless joined with those who were and was thus indirectly addressed when Christ asked for God to forgive “them.”

Christ, the sinless one, was numbered with or counted among the transgressors (Isa. 53:12; Luke 22:37), all of whom have a bigger problem than the day-to-day sins they commit. They hate Christ, the God-man. Anyone who has a master other than the Lord Jesus hates him (Lk. 16:13; Gal. 4:8). That these two criminals loathed him is clearly manifested during the crucifixion: “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Matt. 27:44).

When the criminal who was converted was doing his worst against Christ, Christ was doing his best for this criminal.

The conversion of the one criminal was most extraordinary and testifies to the power of Christ’s prayer and the grace of God. Why?

This criminal’s faith did not come at a time such as when Christ turned water into wine; or performed miracles, such as walking on water, opening the eyes of a blind man, or raising Lazarus from the dead. No! The criminal believed on the Messiah while he was hanging as one cursed upon a tree. The criminal trusted in and boldly defended the one whose disciples had abandoned him. Jesus was at his lowest when this criminal asked to be remembered in Christ’s kingdom.

When he was on the cross, did anyone publicly cry out, as John the Baptist did, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29)? But this is essentially what the dying thief did. Little wonder, then, that Christ should promise him a place in his kingdom: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

The criminal acknowledged he was guilty; he acknowledged that Christ was not (“this man has done nothing wrong”); he feared God; but, and here is the key: the criminal did not merely want to be in a better place. He wanted to be with Christ in a better place: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk. 23:42). The criminal believed “against all hope”.

Heaven is a better place because that is where Christ is. Everyone wants to go to heaven, but not everyone wants to go to Christ’s heaven. Not so with this criminal: he saw, with his eyes, Christ at his worst; but with the eyes of faith, he believed that Christ would soon be at his best, and so put his faith in a dying king.

Christ is always – always! – willing to save even the most miserable of sinners. A recognition of guilt (Lk. 23:40) and a confidence in him and not ourselves (Lk. 23:42) will always lead to the most assuring truth a sinner can receive: the Savior welcomes such into his paradise!

“One is saved, and we may not despair; the other is lost, and we may not presume.” Spurgeon

Our Time is Short

Ready to start your new life with God?

Who do you think that I am?

With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.

Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well.

“A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it…” – Martin Luther

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SCOTUS: Too Much and Too Little

The root of the tragedy of the SCOTUS decision is that sexual orientation as a category of personhood is both too much and too little all at once, too weighty for the soul to bear and not capacious enough to portray God’s power to redeem, transform, lay down his life, and live again in and through His people. We are a Galatians 2:20 people, having been crucified with Christ so that we no longer live, but Christ alone lives in us. We died. We stand only in the risen Christ. This is as true and universal for those among us who struggle with same sex desire as it is for those who struggle with other sinful distortions of the fall, other indwelling sin patterns.

5 Warning Signs for the Church in a “Facebook Culture”

“Surfacey” interactions/artificial relationships. …. people might feel more connected, but they can really be more distant, at least from who they really are. In contrast, true Christian fellowship requires that we engage with people as we really are, so that we can honestly face our sin and grow together in Christ.

The Future of Evangelicalism: Stronger, Smaller, and Stranger

Nominal Christians have long been the church’s “warm market.” They don’t have major obstacles to faith and are the most likely people to become committed believers. Yes, their exodus will purify the church. But, to continue with the marketing terms, when people are rushing to shed your label, it means you have a branding problem. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see this negative public perception lead to greater attrition.

The Calvary Option?

Despised and mocked by all around him, he plods towards death, faithfully doing that to which he has been called. But the Calvary Option is surely too grand a name for just doing my job. So I suggest we call it simply ‘the traditional pastoral work in an ordinary congregation option.’ Inelegantly phrased, I know, but it does seem to capture the essence of the matter rather nicely.

Belief in a Historical Adam: A Call to Courage

Paul ascribes a real transgression to one real man just as he ascribes a real act of righteousness to one real Savior, Jesus (Rom 5:18). Adam is no a mytho-poetic literary construct. If he is then his trespass was not that of a real man and our need for the real obedience of the one man, Jesus, is really unnecessary. Even more, Christ’s resurrection would need no basis in historic fact. A real victory is not needed for an unreal fall. Our theological beliefs are grounded in historical events. If those events did not happen, our faith is false.

The 4 Most Embarrassing Things Cecile Richards Said In Defense Of Planned Parenthood

However, her main talking point — that the footage was edited — is completely refuted by the full release of the footage in question. Her subsequent talking point of straight up character assassination has no substantiating evidence. She may have been caught in a rather obvious false statement about how many clinics are engaged in fetal organ harvesting. And, finally, just because Planned Parenthood is structured as a non-profit does not mean their organ harvesting programs are legal or ethical.

Liberating Christians from Their Cultural Captivity

At the same time, evangelicals must prepare to minister to the wounded, the refugees of the sexual revolution whose relationships have been wrecked by false promises of freedom and autonomy. When people are persuaded that they are free to “come and go” as they please, relationships will grow fragile and fragmented. Those around us will increasingly suffer insecurity and loneliness. The new polarization can be an opportunity for Christian communities to become safe havens where people witness the beauty of relationships reflecting God’s own commitment and faithfulness.

Christians Shouldn’t Be Culture’s Morality Police

If more Christians were eating meals with non-believers, or with believers they didn’t always agree with, the Internet might look nothing like it does. We often replace face-to-face conversations with insensitive, irresponsible use of social media. The toughest discussions are the ones that require slowing down, pulling up a chair and pouring a drink together, because the words we type or affirm from a distance would so rarely come through our lips sitting inches away from another person, looking directly into their eyes.

Would the Discovery of Alien Life Undermine Christian Theology?

by Pastor Brian Chilton

On Thursday, July 23rd, 2015, NASA announced a major discovery. NASA announced that scientists had discovered another Earth-sized planet “orbiting a sun-like star brings us closer than ever to finding a twin of our own watery world” (Brennan 2015). Astronomers have named the planet Kepler-452b. What is especially interesting about the planet is that it is in the so-called “Goldilocks Zone” which is an area from the sun that is just right to allow water on the planet. Too far away from the host star and any potential water would freeze. Too close to the star and any potential water would burn out. NASA said nothing about alien life except that Kepler-452b receives “about 90 percent of the energy we get from the sun. That’s a point in favor of life, if the planet’s atmosphere is something like ours” (Brennan 2015).

From the previous point, many sensationalist websites proclaimed that alien life had been found. But a further reading of NASA’s statement indicates that such an announcement is premature since “The planet’s true size and density remain unknown, however, which means it could still turn out to be a gas planet, hostile to like as we know it. And powerful magnetic fluxes also could mean periodic drop-offs in the amount of energy reaching the planet, by as much as 40 percent. These drop-offs could last for months” (Brennan 2015). In addition, the planet is around 500 light years away which would take us around 2,932,848,000,000,000 (2 quadrillion, 932 trillion, 848 billion) years to arrive at Kepler-452b. While life on Kepler-452b is highly unlikely, many have posed the question, “What if alien life is discovered in the universe? Would it affect or destroy Christian theology that holds that human life is made imagio dei (in the image of God)?” While it is highly unlikely that one would discover alien life in the universe, it is not impossible. Such a topic is, at least at the time of this writing, a theological exercise. But if alien life were to be discovered, obviously it would affect everyone—much as Columbus’ discovery of the New World sent shock waves to Europe. However, I do not think that the discovery of alien life would destroy Christianity or religion in general, for the following reasons…

Watch Biblical Prophecy Unfold

Our Proximity to the Tribulation

We have the necessary technology for “every eye to see Him,” (Revelation 1:7). Equally, we have the technology now for the whole world to witness the preaching of the Two Witnesses and for the whole world to see the Beast confront them and kill them, and then leave them lying in the streets, whilst the whole world looks on in celebration.

by Guest Blogger | 7/30/15

From the LYWB.com team: As we’ve tackled porn this week, we hope you’ve seen what to avoid in the battle for purity. But purity isn’t just about a list of don’ts. That’s why we wanted to pass along this great list of things you can do to protect your purity from Randy Alcorn. You can check out his original post here.

First of all, remember that if you plant purity today, you will reap a rich harvest, free from shame and guilt. And, by the grace of God, you’ll look back on your life not with regret, but with joyful gratitude. Sexual purity is ALWAYS in your best interest. Be smart, not stupid, and you’ll enjoy the best God has for you!

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality” (1 Thess. 4:3).

Putting it under ‘research’ gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing. If you have someone in a really anti state who’s going to be doing this for you, they’re probably going to get caught. —Savita Ginde, MD, Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains VP Medical Director.

When the first of the videos exposing Planned Parenthood came out, I stated that the mainstream media was not giving this issue much notice. I now gladly recant of that opinion. As the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) continues to unveil other videos, each one more telling of the awful practices of the abortion industry than the previous one, the major networks are now having to cover it.

We need to use this opportunity to continue to press the wickedness of murdering the unborn deeper into the consciences of our fellow citizens. Doing so will not be easy, for too many care more for an accidentally killed lion than a wrongly butchered baby. Yet we need to be informed by watching videos such as these below, praying for God to awaken consciences, and being prepared to speak to others. As we do, let us remember to do so humbly as Rosaria Butterfield reminds us in this post.

I conclude with George Stephanopoulos’ interview of Planned Parenthood’s President Cecile Richards. Though it is on ABC News and acknowledges the videos, it shows what we are still up against. Notice how Richards uses repeated, chilling lies as she seeks to cast Planned Parenthood as a compassionate, non-profiting company (Note: She reportedly makes over $500K per year). The doublespeak continues.

First, for our international audience, please bear with us as we try to solve problems we are experiencing in our online streaming. You can always catch our podcasts posted later today. More than 80% of the citizens of our nation call themselves “Christians”. But many of them profess beliefs directly contradicted by the Word […]

Simply opening the day’s newspapers, or tuning into the electronic news media outlets, can often reveal rather jarring juxtapositions. Today some of the talking points are lions, the ongoing expose of Planned Parenthood’s, and various reactions to both.

The big one is the story about the lion shot illegally in Africa. Everyone seems to be talking about this one. For those not aware of the story, it goes like this:

Cecil the lion – the most famous creature in one of Zimbabwe’s national parks – was killed by an American hunter who has boasted about shooting a menagerie of animals with his bow and arrow, The Telegraph can reveal.
Walter James Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, is believed to have paid £35,000 to shoot and kill the much-loved lion with a bow and arrow. The animal was shot on July 1 in Hwange National Park. Two independent sources have confirmed the hunter’s identity to the paper, which has also seen a copy of the relevant hunting permit.

And the most recent media reports about this now mention that he has made a public apology for his actions:

Walter Palmer, the US dentist and big game hunter who killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, has written a letter to his patients apologising for the disruption to their treatment while the international furore continues….
In the letter, addressed to his “valued patients”, Palmer once again stated that he thought the hunt was legal and that the proper hunting permits had been obtained.

Plenty of people are very concerned about all this. And I certainly am not begrudging the fact that they feel outraged, but I am questioning why it is that once again an animal death generates so much concern and public attention, while the slaughter of innocent babies does not even raise an eyebrow.

As my good friend Kathleen Linger has put it, “People are upset because the lion was supposed to be protected in a safe haven, but what about the unborn babies who are also supposed to be protected in the safe haven of their mothers’ wombs? Just as this lion was lured out of its safe haven, so the abortionists rip the babies out of their safe havens.”

And it is strange, but big-name folks like Ernest Hemmingway or James Joyce were famous for hunting lions in Africa and adorning the walls or floors of their homes with their skins. And of course how many millions of carnivores depend upon others to do the killing for them every day of the year?

Already zillions of hours of media time have been devoted to this story, yet the mainstream media is barely even talking about something far worse: the gruesome killing of babies and the harvesting and selling of their body parts. Why no media coverage about this? Why no international outrage about this?

While a few brave and responsible media outlets like Fox News have covered the PP story, most are not. This story is surely of far greater moral weight, and cuts deep into the very basic values of any civilised society. Yet it is mostly met with silence.

That tells me a lot about the moral meltdown that is so characteristic of the West. Any society that can remain silent about the wholesale destruction of millions of babies, and not even bat an eyelash over a menu of body parts for sale is a society that no longer can claim to be part of the civilised world.

Another news item which is utterly shocking concerns a recent judicial decision. A judged has weighed into the PP mess and said it has to stop. The killing of babies and selling of parts? Um no, the video exposes of this. Yes you heard me right. As one report states:

The California Superior Court has issued a narrow temporary restraining order preventing the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), a pro-life group, from releasing further undercover video footage taken of three top-level staff of StemExpress.
CMP is the organization behind the series of three videos released over the past three weeks exposing the alleged harvesting and sale of body parts from aborted babies by Planned Parenthood – body parts that are then purchased by StemExpress.
CMP has alleged that the fees paid by StemExpress to Planned Parenthood violate federal law prohibiting the sale and trafficking of human tissue.
While Planned Parenthood has claimed that the fees paid to them by StemExpress merely cover their costs, and fall within the bounds of the law, the video footage released so far has appeared to show Planned Parenthood employees seeking profit as part of the transaction.
In the most recent video, released Tuesday, a Planned Parenthood affiliate vice president was caught on video describing how the abortion organization can maximize profit. “I think a per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it,” Dr. Savita Sinde said of the aborted baby.
The Associated Press, which broke the news about the court order, reports that the undercover videos of the Stem Express staff were filmed at a restaurant in May.
It is unclear just how significant an impact the court order will have on the release of subsequent videos in the series. David Daleiden, the lead researcher with CMP, has said that at least nine more videos are slated for release.
The restraining order reportedly only pertains to the footage of the Stem Express employees, meaning that any other footage, including that featuring Planned Parenthood employees, can still be released as planned.
In an exclusive comment to LifeSiteNews after the release of the court order, Daleiden said that, at the end of the day, what happened in the courtroom may actually be a victory for the pro-life group.
“The ruling is very narrow, concerning only one specific meeting, and it is temporary and contingent pending further litigation,” he said. “The judge actually threw out completely the part of StemExpress’ case where they were asking to suppress the documents on their baby parts sales.”
“It was a much better day for us than it was for them and Planned Parenthood.”

As Kathleen also pointed out, why does this sound familiar? Surely courts in Germany in the 30s and 40s would also have blocked any attempts by concerned citizens to expose the nasty secrets of the Nazi killing machine. Hitler and his colleagues literally got away with murder in part by covering up what they were doing and silencing the critics.

So on it goes. We have fighting in the courts as to which is worse: the evil trade of PP, or the exposure of their dastardly deeds by concerned organisations. Incredible. But most of the media is utterly fixated on some poor lion. Again, don’t get me wrong: I am no fan of any unnecessary animal cruelty or killing.

But some folks are calling for the dentist to be hanged! Really. Sorry, but when these same folks start calling for the money-making mass murderers at PP to be hanged, then I might start to take them more seriously. Otherwise their selective moral outrage does not impress me one lousy bit.

The fourth video exposing Planned Parenthood has just been released. It is hard to believe that the revelations could get any worse, but they do. In this video, you will witness Planned Parenthood doctors picking through the mangled remains of a human baby trying to find parts to sell. You will also hear Planned Parenthood doctors say “It’s a baby” and “Another boy!” They know what they are doing. We know what they are doing. This is the face of evil, and it has to stop.

If you haven’t done so already, it is time for you to act. You need to send an email or a letter to your representatives in Congress. Here are instructions for finding and contacting your Senators. Here are instructions for finding and contacting your Representative.

For those who live in Kentucky like me, you can contact Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Rand Paul here and here. For those who live in Louisville, you can contact Representative John Yarmuth here. Below is the letter that I sent to each of them. Feel free to copy and paste this into your own letter. Whatever you do, contact them now. It’s time. It’s past time.

—————

Dear Senator McConnell,

I am appalled at the recent revelations of barbarism taking place at Planned Parenthood every day. As a nation, we are better than this. This daily destruction of human life should not even be legal, much less subsidized by the federal government.

So I am asking you to do everything within your power to defund Planned Parenthood. I’m also asking you to support any legislation that would protect human life at its earliest stages.

Thank you for receiving this letter and for serving Kentucky.

Sincerely,
Denny Burk

Shocking Gender Indoctrination in California

Stand Up For The Truth reports:

Do not be surprised, but young children are being taught that they can choose to be a boy or a girl — or both. Boys, for example, should be comfortable wearing girls’ clothes and nail polish, etc. And there aren’t just two genders, there can be a range. And, of course, the school does not allow parents to opt their kids out.
Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland, CA has hired a “gender coach” from “Gender Spectrum,” a radical gender group, to go into the classrooms. As Fox News observed, Gender Spectrum’s mission is to “create more gender-sensitive environments for kids.”

As the San Jose Mercury News reported

On Monday morning, children in Cynthia Bagby’s kindergarten class discussed whether there were, in fact, “girl colors” and “boy colors.” Some giggled when Joel Baum, the trainer from Gender Spectrum, read “My Princess Boy,” a nonfiction children’s book by Cheryl Kilodavis about her son who liked to wear dresses and a tiara.
Not surprisingly, in these tough economic times the program is being paid for by the California Teachers Association (CTA).

Destination America is taking the reality television genre to a place it’s never been before, by airing an exorcism live on TV, with “Exorcism: Live!” in October.

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” Revelation 9:6 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the past few years, America has become obsessed with dark things, even Pope Francis can’t stop talking about performing exorcisms. Just last weekend, an 8 foot high statue of Baphomet was unveiled and hundreds bowed down to worship it. The Age of Grace is nearly at an end now, and what is waiting in the wings is truly frightening. But if you know Jesus as your Saviour, you can miss the coming time of Great Tribulation.

“Exorcism: Live!” will air in October, just in time for Halloween, and to commemorate the 66th anniversary of “The Exorcist.” The event will follow the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, as well as the psychic medium Chip Coffey as they search through the Exorcist House, using state of the art technology to do daytime and nighttime investigations, documenting as much evidence as they can of demonic entities on live TV.

The live event will take place at the original Exorcist House in the suburbs of St. Louis where the infamous ritual was performed on Roland Doe in 1949, and which inspired the film “The Exorcist.”

“As we step into one of the most haunted and well-known spirit destinations in America, ‘Exorcism: Live!” will show exactly what is inside this infamous, highly dangerous and possessed home.” said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America, in a statement. “By actually exorcising this iconic house live, Destination America will do what it does best — bringing never before seen experiences to television.”

As a shepherd, probably the most common prayer request I receive from God’s people is to pray that they would pray more and accelerate their prayer lives. How can we pray? Many people can relate to the request of the disciples: Lord, teach us to pray. This certainly isn’t exhaustive, but this brief essay will provide 5 helps to aid you in your times of meeting with God.

1. FELLOWSHIP WITH YOUR GOD.
Think of prayer as an intimate relationship with your Abba, Father. Consider that prayer is you crawling into the lap of your Father in heaven and adoring Him, thanking Him, confessing your sins to Him, and petitioning Him. His tender eye is upon you. His affections are kindled toward you. And He, like a Father, loves to fellowship with, commune with, share this time together with you, His beloved, blood-bought child.

2. PRIORITIZE PRAYER IN YOUR DAY.
You are no good till you meet with God. Resolve in your heart to meet with God before you meet with men. Warm your heart with the precious glories of Scripture before you face the onslaught of the dark world. Prioritize prayer. If you don’t, it won’t happen. At least, if you don’t plan to pray and prioritize it, you may push it aside till a more opportune time later in the day until you realize that you’re just too tired, can’t focus, and have too many distractions. So, believer, wake up early, meet with God. Awaken the dawn with your praises and seek God early! If anything has to give each day, let it be something other than your prayer time. Are you busy? Then pray more!

3. PRAY WITH YOUR BIBLE OPEN.
Prayer is talking with God. Talking to God is wonderful and essential but don’t forget that conversations best occur when there is a two-way dialogue. So, hear God speak through the written Word. Daniel prayed as he read Jeremiah’s prophecy. Let God’s people open the Bible and pray through the psalms — verse by verse — and through Paul’s prayers in the Epistles. Are your prayers rote, boring, mindless and heartless? Do you pray the same thing every day and feel tired of not having enough to pray for? Then, open your Bible and turn God’s promises into prayers. Take your Father’s written Word and turn them into prayers. A Father can’t refuse His own promises! Make a case & build the argument with God.Take His Word and His promises & turn them into prayers.This is how you pray according to the will of God so that He cannot refuse His own Words. Make the case, stand and watch, see God answer far beyond your expectations!

4. SPECIFICALLY PRESENT YOUR REQUESTS.
Rather than praying that God would ‘be with them’ and that ‘God would bless America’ and that ‘God would go with them’, perhaps consider praying more specifically, more thoughtfully, more intentionally and more biblically. Paul said that he thanked God for all the believers in Thessalonica (1 Thess 1:2). Pray for revival, pray for God’s strengthening of the weak, pray for those who evangelize, pray for God to revive your soul, pray specifically and watch God answer.

5. INTERCEDE FOR YOUR CHURCH FAMILY.
Do you not know what to pray for? Do you need revitalization in your prayer times? Then take your church’s membership role and begin praying for each person by name. Pray specifically? Do you not know how to pray for them? Then seek them, pursue them, ask them, pray for them, and follow up. Pray for your preachers and teachers. Pray for their wives and for spiritual protection. Pray for the families, for sexual purity, for the youth, for the young children, for every ministry in the church (specifically), for every missionary (by name), and for every elder (by name). Pray for the Spirit’s power. Pray for many conversions and for holiness. Intercede and see God mightily work.

Relational breakups hurt. They hurt because we feel rejection from others, but they also hurt because they expose our personal flaws.When the anger subsides, we search inside to determine what about us failed to meet the expectations of a former friend or former boyfriend or former girlfriend.

So what hope does God offer to Christians in the pain of breakups?

The question came from a young man who recently asked John Piper in what will become a future episode in the Ask Pastor John podcast.

What follows is an edited transcript of Piper’s response.

Let me begin with a few examples of painful breakups.

You are a thirteen-year-old girl, and you get a note from your best friend at school: “I don’t want to be your friend anymore.”

You are dating, and you develop a sense that this could be going into something beautiful and lasting, and your girlfriend says, “I don’t think we should keep seeing each other.”

You are engaged, and two months before the wedding, when everything is in full swing, your fiancé says, “I just can’t do it. I can’t go forward. I don’t think this is going to work.”

You have tried over and over again to be a part of various groups at church or work, and nobody ever reaches out to you. Nobody ever follows up. All of your initiatives at friendship lead nowhere. And you are alone most of the time. Nobody calls. Nobody invites you to go anywhere or to do anything.

Now, in their own ways, those are each incredibly painful experiences of rejection.

Six Bad Breakup Responses

So let me mention six possible responses that are not addressing the issue. They are escapes. And so I hope and pray that people will hear these and say, There is another way forward.

Number one. We might experience thoughts of suicide. We have invested that much in this relationship, that without it, life simply doesn’t look worth living. (Piper addresses suicide in greater detail here.)

Number two. We might express our pain with anger: “What a jerk. Who needs her anyway?”

Number three. We might retreat into utter reclusiveness, become a social hermit, and never risk that kind of relationship again.

Number four. We might try to medicate our sorrow by drinking alcohol, or by overeating, or by throwing ourselves totally into our work with no attention to people at all anymore.

Number five. We might respond with self-hatred that expresses itself in anorexic extremes or cutting ourselves. I knew a young woman who was cutting her stomach every few months to get to the hospital to get stitches. I asked her, “What can you share with me — anything that would help me understand what this means?” And she said, “I enjoy the attention I get in the emergency room.” So you could go to that extreme of cutting yourself or starving yourself.

Number six. We might double down on external improvement, so that we can finally earn somebody’s admiration. So she is going to work on her figure. She is going to work on her hair. She is going to work on her wardrobe. And he is going to work out more, and he is going to take some classes. I want to be a good conversationalist, and I am going to fix my outward person, so that somebody will finally like me.

Now all of those responses leave pretty much untouched the core issue, the huge painful question mark that this breakup caused. None of those six responses addresses my core identity or my core relationship or my core joy.

My Identity

So here is where Jesus, the Lord of the universe, the Savior of the world, is absolutely essential in addressing those things. He does four things for us.

1. A God Who Created Us

God created us so that we would trust in his wisdom and sovereignty and goodness, and so that we would not throw ourselves away as defective and worthless. If we do, we are not trusting him. He made us with our basic intelligence, our basic personality, and our basic body. And if we make the judgment that we can’t be redeemed, we can’t be loved, or we can’t be useful, we are lying about him. We are not trusting him. So first, he gives us our basic significance on the earth, since he makes no mistakes in what he creates. That is number one. He created us.

2. A God Who Loves Us

God accepts us, and forgives us, and loves us, in spite of all the effects or defects that may push others away. If we will trust him, he justifies us freely. This is the great precious doctrine of justification by faith alone. We don’t first measure up and then get accepted with God. We may with others, but not with God. We are accepted because of Christ, because of Christ and his perfections, not our perfections. And we tap into that through faith alone. That is the rock bottom fact of our existence and identity. That is our core relationship, and it is a gift, and it outweighs in preciousness all other relationships.

3. A God to Satisfy Us

He satisfies us. Christ satisfies us with something infinitely greater than a good self-image; namely, himself.

The greatest happiness is not standing in front of a mirror and liking what we see.

The greatest happiness is not standing in front of the world or your girlfriend and having them or her like what they see.

The greatest happiness is not even standing in front of God and having him like what he sees. I admit, that is spectacular and I want that, and I am going to get that, Lord willing, because faith is tapped into Christ.

The supreme satisfaction of our souls is that we stand in front of God and are thrilled by the beauty of God outside of us. He is all at that moment, and he is our highest joy. The highest joys are self-forgetful joys in the presence of infinite beauty.

4. A God to Strengthen Us

Because we have a core identity created by God, and a core relationship as accepted and loved by God through Christ on the basis of Christ, and a core satisfaction because we see God as supremely beautiful on the basis of all of that, we now have the inner strength to move out into the world. We no longer need to crave other people’s acceptance, but we delight to pour ourselves out to serve other people. All our relationships, then, are not rooted in craving, but in serving, which may or may not have the spin off effect of people wanting to be with us. But that is not the point. That is spin off.

So I am not saying that life is without relational pain. Every one of those losses I described can happen to Christians. They are going to happen. And they will hurt. What I am saying is that in Christ we have all we need to live useful and joyful lives through that kind of rejection and pain.

Listen to the full ten-minute audio recording of John Piper’s answer here:

It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the Popery in the Church of Rome, there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. . .It wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Savior and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Spirit and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the Vicar of Christ on earth. If we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors; we shall love their souls though we loathe and detest their dogmas. And so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened because we turn our faces toward Christ when we pray.

By far, the greatest evil in the church are the works of darkness that creep in unaware to dilute the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, while building a false church that serves the interest of man. One of the major players in these days of iniquitous works is the world-wide organization known as Hillsong Church. Hillsong has fed much to the evangelical church in the way of wickedness through it’s many programs, especially its music production program. Hillsong’s music is played in nearly every evangelical church in the world, as well as many Roman Catholic churches. The purchase of every piece of “worshipful art” from them goes to support their works and pays homage to their apostasy.

Does your church worship service include Hillsong’s music?

Hillsong church is a breeding ground for false converts. Some of their New York campus’ flagship products include the homosexual couple, Reed Kelly and Josh Canfield, in which Canfield volunteers as a choir director 2 and Justin Bieber, who has continual run-ins with the law. 3

Hillsong Australia’s former worship pastrix, Darlene Zschech, has taken the apostate nature of Hillsong’s artisanship to the highest level.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. – Eph 5:11

Zschech has chosen instead to bear false witness to the world, blaspheming the Holy Spirit by attributing evil deeds to Him that he did not do. 4 In a recent blog post, she wrote,

I am writing this mid-air on my way home from Singapore after an amazing time away speaking, leading worship, writing songs, being with dear friends. It has been wonderful. And, to see what the Holy Spirit is doing around the earth is completely breathtaking. Even in all the expressions that make us different as God’s colourful church, its incredible to me that when the Holy Spirit draws near, His role in our experience of following Jesus makes us so very similar.

What is she referring to? Her recent capitulation to Rome–the Vatican, at an ecumenical worship event lead by the Roman Catholic Church. Don Moen, an American “worship leader” with close ties to Zschech and Hillsong 5, who also participated in the event was quoted as saying in an article at Christianity Today,

This ecumenical event brings Protestants, Catholics, and Jews together as we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being martyred and persecuted all over the world today 6

I find it extremely difficult to reconcile this mindset, the acceptance that contradictory beliefs can all be from the same God, as a work of the Holy Spirit. She refers to it as “different characteristics, faces, tastes and giftings.. yet a DNA running through our veins that draw us together.” In Philippians 2:2, Paul teaches us to be “of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” True Christians can only be united around the truth because God is truth. She goes on to say,

A few months ago a very interesting email turned up in my office inviting me to sing at a beautiful event called the ‘Catholic charismatic renewal’ at St Peters Square, to actually lead songs of worship with others as the Pope called people to prayer and unity…Most invites I receive, I am unable to say yes to, but when Mark and I feel a peace about it, I go…This invite to Rome was about many different denominations coming together to pray for the world…

The Holy Spirit does not lead Christians into an ecumenical, multi-god “praise and worship” event put on by the ancient enemy of the Gospel, the Roman Catholic Church. It’s quite the opposite. The Holy Spirit leads people out of Rome, and out of apostasy (Revelation 18:4). The Holy Spirit finds what Zschech claims she was led to do by Him as totally unacceptable (Eph 5:11).

Zschech has been deceived, as many from Hillsong have, that doctrine is of no importance in the Christian life 7, and that all who name the name of Christ–Roman Catholics, homosexuals, unrepentant sinners–as long as you name Christ, we are all united in that confession. She goes on to say,

I was not there to judge, I was not there to become a Catholic, I was not there to sightsee. But I WAS there to lift up the name of Jesus.. without any hesitation or compromise.. for as I have learned over many years, that once Jesus is the centre.. anything can happen.

Right Darlene, let’s not judge, let’s just jump on the bandwagon of feel-good music, man-centered pep talks and motivational speaking, all while we judge those who truly want to hold to sound doctrine and see people come to a true saving faith in Jesus Christ. “Once Jesus is the center, anything can happen,” she says. The center of what? Your blasphemous, idolatrous event that mocks who he is, and what he has done? Jesus will not be mocked (Gal 6:7). You can rest assured that the Jesus of the Bible was not the center of that event–rather he was looking down at you, calling you to repent. You have more than compromised his name, you have outright denied him.

Nonetheless, she believes that the Holy Spirit has brought her together with the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church, to lead thousands of lost people in an ecumenical worship service, united under a false Gospel, and a false Jesus. But this isn’t surprising considering apostasy coming out of the church she was brought up in. Hillsong has focused on a works-based gospel–a social gospel, nearly identical to that of Rome 89. She continues,

A message was preached about the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our midst, and about the great grace of God which we are all dependent. Pope Francis asked the crowd to declare loudly,’Jesus is Lord’ three times and each time it grew in confidence and intention. Worship was lifted up which had the many thousands of people who attended all singing in free-flowing moments which to be honest, was reminiscent of a time I sang on a John Wimber crusade in New Zealand many years ago.

So the Pope asks the crowd to repeat a mantra, and their “confidence and intention” grew with each repetition? Strangely, this sounds a lot closer to Eastern Mysticism than to Christianity. Besides the fact that vain repetitions are forbidden in Scripture (Matthew 6:7), we are taught to humble ourselves before the Lord. We don’t use him as a wishing well. However, this practice is nonetheless rooted in the heretical Word of Faith movement that teaches that our words have the power to speak things into being. Proponents of this heresy, such as Kenneth Copeland, have argued that since God was able to speak things into existence, that man has been endowed with the ability to do the same, equating faith to a “creative force.” 10

She closes her blog with some very troubling statements–statements that are indicative of the lost state of her soul, as well as many others. She says:

It all comes down to a seeking heart. And a God, who is seeking us, is NOT defined or intimidated by denomination, liturgy, age or preferences… the TRUTH of our hearts toward Him is what He is after. Not controlled or manufactured, outside in expressions of lives trying to present a Holy life. Jesus, only Jesus is the answer. He takes us as He finds us. He works with us every day, from the inside out, patient and kind in His love for us and His ultimate work in our lives, leading us daily in our life’s purpose.

She’s right that Jesus is the only answer, but which Jesus? The Jesus of the Roman Catholic Church is not the same Jesus of the Bible. The Roman Catholic Jesus is a Jesus who is summoned by a priest, and dwells within the body of a wafer during his repeated sacrifice on the altar of the Satanic temple daily.

So yes, I did meet Pope Francis. And yes, I did witness something truly miraculous…Change is happening all over the planet. There is a hunger for the truth of being a Christ follower, and so Christ followers need to be found EVERYWHERE.. that we will be a witness BY OUR LOVE.

Change is certainly happening all over the planet, but it’s not for the truth. The Bible teaches there will be a great falling away, a rebellion against God in the last days (2 Thes 2:3), and we see it happening right in front of our eyes. The apostate church of Rome is leading the way, andZschech, and Hillsong are right behind them. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says that people like Zschech are “false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” Zschech, is following a false path, and teaching a false Gospel. Her ends will correspond to her deeds.

Finally, she has this to say,

C’mon church. Isaiah 60 says to ARISE SHINE Thy light has come that even as the earth grows darker, Christ’s light in us shines brighter. Let’s not be dulled down by a lack of understanding, or a judgmental attitude. I had to continually remind myself that I was there to announce and declare the Kingdom of God and not to fault find but to be aware and awake to something very precious. And so on we go, hearts and hands ready for all God is calling us into.

Folks, this lady is totally, and completely lost. She has absolutely no idea who Jesus Christ is, what he has done, or why he has done it. Yet, her music is played in solid churches and listened to by faithful people all around the world. Why do our churches continue to promote and support the rank heresy that comes out of Hillsong Church? Is it because we don’t any better? Arguably, most evangelical churches are on the same page as Zschech, but some would openly reject this false doctrine, and preach it back to the pits of Hell where it belongs, yet they are completely blind to the fact that they are supporting it, and feeding it, by purchasing the rights to this music to lead their faithful congregations in worship of the one true God. Can we not see the absolute hypocrisy here? Why?

Would you like to know how to move forward and stop living in the past? Who doesn’t? Today’s guest blogger is Julie Ganschow, a biblical counselor and director of Reigning Grace Counseling Center in Kansas City, Mo, who shares how to move past the past and go forward. Read the original post here. Reprinted with permission.

Some women really, really struggle with ceasing to live in the past. Partly because their traumatic past wants to cling on into the present, and partly because there are things in the past that while they no longer participate in the behavior, they have not truly forsaken it.

Why People Get Stuck in the Past

Let me explain by way of example. Imagine a person who was a drunk and enjoyed being a drunk has sobered up. They have not had a drink for about a year but the thoughts of all that fun they had while drinking and partying are with them daily. They may have distanced themselves from the participation in drunkenness but they have not truly forsaken it.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Proverbs 28:13 (NASB)

The word forsake is a powerful word in the Bible. It means that you utterly abandon it and have nothing whatsoever to do with it–nothing. This is where I see most people get stuck. Like the drunk in the above example, they may have confessed the sin, but they keep doing it over and over in their thoughts. They play around mentally with it going over it repeatedly, mentally committing that sin or activity over and over. Honestly, part of them enjoys that sin. This is a great hindrance to moving on because the person really has not forsaken the sin. In time the person will repeat the sin.

Like a dog that returns to its vomit Is a fool who repeats his folly. Proverbs 26:11 (NASB)

The failure to radically amputate not only the sinful behaviors of the past but also the thoughts and desires that accompany the memories is why many remain consumed with the past.

The Problem: Idols of the Heart

A part of the process of growth and change is to stop the behavior and learn and practice new and godly behavior, but more importantly to renew the mind with thoughts that are true, honest, and of good report (Philippians 4:8). This means learning the critical place of the heart and understanding that the problem is not the “problem.” It is not simply the drinking, the shopping, the overspending, the semi-pornographic television or whatever action we are talking about. The problem is the heart, the idols of the heart and how powerful the desires are and what a critical place they have in your growth, or lack of it.

Another reason for wallowing in the past is when you equate being forgiven with having forgotten.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NASB)

This verse tells us that our sins are completely forgiven by God. That is a true statement. When God forgives He forgives completely. Some people get stuck because while they understand they are completely forgiven they don’t forget. They mistakenly thing that forgiveness equals forgetting.

… For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins. Jeremiah 31:34 (NLT)

AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE. Hebrews 10:17 (NASB)

Notice what these verses say. The phrase “I will remember no more” is important to understand. What it means is God will choose not to recall our sins and iniquities for the purpose of punishment. It does not mean God forgets. God chooses not to dwell on our past sins. We have the same choice because we have been indwelt with God’s Spirit.

You can choose not to dwell on the things of your past and get stuck in misery.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB)

Choose Your Thoughts

This is not going to come automatically, you must deliberately choose to take every thought captive according to the commands of the Lord. You must choose to obey.

Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23 (NASB)

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (NASB)

Your thoughts will be taken captive and changed as you choose to obey Philippians 4:4-6 and Romans 12:1-2.

For as he thinks within himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7 (NASB)

What you are thinking about becomes who you are according to this verse. One who constantly meditates on yesterday’s sins and failures is programming herself to believe they are still true of her today! If your parents told you that you were a failure and a horrible child and you believed them, then you became what you believed you were.

If you think you are an alcoholic and you believe the disease model, then you also believe there is no hope that you can ever be anything but a “recovering” alcoholic. There is no victory in that, no hope and no freedom.

Believing God Is the Way Forward

1 Corinthians 6 lists a bunch of nasty things that defined who and what many of us were before we were redeemed: fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers. But note what Paul says about us:

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB)

So, has the Word of God convinced you? Are you ready to accept the fact that you are free of the confessed sin and weight of your sinful past? I hope so! Believe in what the Lord says and go forward in faith and in truth.

BCC Resources for YOU!

COUNSELING: Are you sick of being stuck in the past? Do you want to move forward? If you answer “yes” to either question, then make an appointment with one of our certified biblical counselors! We have four offices in greater Chicago AND we counsel by Skype in the U.S. and all over the world. Contact us to find out more.

Sometimes It’s Just Easier To Care About Dead Lions Than Dead People

TEXTS AND APPLICATION: I suppose I need to be honest here. Sometimes believers, beginning with me, go through the motions of Christianity more than truly live Christianity. Such was the situation for the Hebrews in Isaiah 58. God told Isaiah to announce their sin like a trumpet blaring (Isaiah 58:1) — apparently because they needed a loud wake up call. Listen to His words to them:

1. They do the right things and say the right words.

Isaiah 58:2 “They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

2. But, their religious rituals — particularly, fasting, were only that: religious rituals. The people were inauthentic in their faith, assuming they could manipulate God by going through their motions.

Isaiah 58:3-4 “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.”

In essence, the people thought their religion was a means to an end: if they followed the right rituals, God would be obligated to do their bidding. What they failed to realize is that God cannot be manipulated. He will not be used by a people who talk religious lingo and do religious stuff, but who then live in such a way that they oppress others and cause dissension. The God of the Bible expects our faith to be genuine, evident, and life-transforming. A true relationship with Him recognizes that rituals are not enough.

These texts remind me that one way to evaluate my walk with God is to ask, “Do I get frustrated with God when I’ve been doing what I’m supposed to be doing, but still He does not respond to me?” If so, it might be that I’m depending more on rituals than on a relationship. I might need a trumpet-blaring wake up call.

PRAYER: Let’s pray together today for an honest evaluation of our Christian walk. Pray that our relationship with God would be genuine and deep — so deep, in fact, that we could trust Him even when He seems not to respond to our faithful observance of our rituals.

The combination of the Rapture and the Battle of Ezekiel 38 will fill the world with anguish and uncertainty as Daniel’s 70th Week begins. Where did all those people go? How did Israel so utterly destroy that massive invasion force all by itself? How did all these things happen so suddenly? Why didn’t somebody see this coming and do something to prevent it?

The Lost World of Adam and Eve – Steve Ham of Answers in Genesis has written a long and thorough response to John Walton’s The Lost World of Adam and Eve.

The Speechwriter – The New York Times did a review of a book I read recently and really enjoyed: The Speechwriter by Barton Swaim. It’s an inside look at working for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.

The Tragedy of iTunes – I don’t have as much classical music as I’d like, but I completely agree with this author that Apple’s new music service is utterly appalling. And I say that as a committed Apple fanboy.

Only Two Religions!

I don’t know if you know this but there are only two religions in the entire world.

You might say I’m nuts. There are hundreds if not thousands!

But there is one religion that likes to put on hundreds if not thousands of different masks on, and so ultimately there are only two: the religion of Human Achievement and the religion of Divine Accomplishment.

You see Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism and every single religion that you have ever heard of, ultimately teaches some form of a works-based salvation. They say that you have to be a little more good than bad in order to make it to heaven. These religions encourage you to hand God a resume when you face Him one day. The resume will be filled with all your accomplishments. It will list everything you’ve done for other people, every penny you’ve given to charity and every good deed you’ve done. God will look over this resume and say, “Good job! You’ve made it into heaven”.

The problem is that if you were to enter into heaven because of a resume based on your accomplishments God would get no glory; you would be the one who gets all the praise. In fact, Ephesians 2:9 would say that salvation is not of works lest you should boast! Genesis chapter one shows us that God created the entire universe including you. Everything He created is designed to bring Him glory. The problem is that sin has entered the world, and from birth we all have replaced exalting God with exalting ourselves. Everything we do from birth is geared towards bringing us glory and bringing praise to ourselves. We all have a throne in our hearts that God should be sitting and reigning on, but instead we are born with ourselves sitting on it. We are so used to it we don’t even notice it to the point where we all think that our resumes are good enough to get us into heaven.

Of course we are going to think that we are good people! Of course my mom is going to tell me I’m a good person! But what does your Creator think? He says in Romans 3:23 that we all have sinned and fall short of His glory. He also says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. So if we stand before God and start listing accomplishments or hand Him a resume we might as well slap Jesus in the face because God is going to look at the resume and say, “I killed my only Son because you were not good enough to get to me!”

And that’s where the only other religion comes in.

The religion of Divine Accomplishment. God saw your situation, and decided that since man was so sinful and could not save himself, that He would come Himself and take the form of a man. He humbled himself, spent nine months in a womb he created, grew up with every temptation you and I face every day, but without sinning. He then died on the cross for our sins, and then rose from the dead and defeated death. He made it possible for human beings to stand before God one day and not hand Him a resume and condemn themselves further, but rather, tell God that they deserve His wrath but have placed their faith and trust in the work that Jesus did on their behalf on the cross and through His resurrection.

You see we need someone to be a substitute for us because no matter how hard we try, we can never bridge the gap between God and us. And the substitute can’t be merely a human. It must be God Himself.

Do you see the difference between Christianity and every other religion?

The Greatest Story Ever Told

What is The Gospel?

“My Last Day” — the Jesus Anime

9 powerful minutes of animation that begins with a thief behind bars watching the scourging of Jesus, and it ends with the thief dying next to Jesus, and waking to see Him in a beautiful place.

The dying thief: What was so great about his faith?

There are many acts of extraordinary faith in the Bible. The one that has impressed me the most concerns the dying thief on the cross. We could take the approach that he had nothing to lose, so he decided to cast his lot with Jesus. But this makes absolutely no sense of the text and the context.

In this conversion we have a specific fulfillment of Christ’s first words on the cross. No sooner had Christ spoken the words, “Father, forgive them,” had the Father answered that prayer by turning a once-reviling criminal into a Christ-glorifying saint. While the soon-to-be converted criminal was not directly responsible for Christ’s death, he nevertheless joined with those who were and was thus indirectly addressed when Christ asked for God to forgive “them.”

Christ, the sinless one, was numbered with or counted among the transgressors (Isa. 53:12; Luke 22:37), all of whom have a bigger problem than the day-to-day sins they commit. They hate Christ, the God-man. Anyone who has a master other than the Lord Jesus hates him (Lk. 16:13; Gal. 4:8). That these two criminals loathed him is clearly manifested during the crucifixion: “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Matt. 27:44).

When the criminal who was converted was doing his worst against Christ, Christ was doing his best for this criminal.

The conversion of the one criminal was most extraordinary and testifies to the power of Christ’s prayer and the grace of God. Why?

This criminal’s faith did not come at a time such as when Christ turned water into wine; or performed miracles, such as walking on water, opening the eyes of a blind man, or raising Lazarus from the dead. No! The criminal believed on the Messiah while he was hanging as one cursed upon a tree. The criminal trusted in and boldly defended the one whose disciples had abandoned him. Jesus was at his lowest when this criminal asked to be remembered in Christ’s kingdom.

When he was on the cross, did anyone publicly cry out, as John the Baptist did, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29)? But this is essentially what the dying thief did. Little wonder, then, that Christ should promise him a place in his kingdom: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

The criminal acknowledged he was guilty; he acknowledged that Christ was not (“this man has done nothing wrong”); he feared God; but, and here is the key: the criminal did not merely want to be in a better place. He wanted to be with Christ in a better place: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk. 23:42). The criminal believed “against all hope”.

Heaven is a better place because that is where Christ is. Everyone wants to go to heaven, but not everyone wants to go to Christ’s heaven. Not so with this criminal: he saw, with his eyes, Christ at his worst; but with the eyes of faith, he believed that Christ would soon be at his best, and so put his faith in a dying king.

Christ is always – always! – willing to save even the most miserable of sinners. A recognition of guilt (Lk. 23:40) and a confidence in him and not ourselves (Lk. 23:42) will always lead to the most assuring truth a sinner can receive: the Savior welcomes such into his paradise!

“One is saved, and we may not despair; the other is lost, and we may not presume.” Spurgeon

Our Time is Short

Ready to start your new life with God?

Who do you think that I am?

With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.

Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well.

“A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it…” – Martin Luther

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The best site for documenting media bias is Newsbusters. Let’s see what the mainstream news media reported about instead of reporting on the third Planned Parenthood organ harvesting video.

They reported on a stupid lion:

America’s anchors have spoken: the shooting of one lion vastly outweighs the trafficking of baby parts by a taxpayer-funded abortion giant.

In other words, the broadcast news shows spent more time in one day on Cecil the Lion than they did on the Planned Parenthood videos in two weeks.

The three broadcast networks, ABC, NBC and CBS censored the third video released Tuesday by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) exposing Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting aborted baby parts — censored it at Planned Parenthood’s urging. But the news shows did find more than 14 minutes for a more important story: the “outrage”…

Like this:

Sometimes, the relationship between the minister and his congregation can be quite thrilling. Through the faithful proclamation of God’s Word, converts are made, children are discipled, leaders are built, prodigals return, marriages are saved, families are improved, the consequences of sin are abated, lay-led ministries abound, local cultures are transformed, congregational size grows, buildings are built, and other churches are planted. Why does all this transpire? It is because the Holy Spirit chooses to sovereignly use the preaching ministry of one sinful but redeemed man; it is a fantastic delight to see such success from one’s preaching ministry. Then, to top it all off, how sweet and awesome it is when the faithful minister also gets paid a very good salary by his respectful and appreciative congregation. Such a relationship is wonderful for the shepherd and his flock. Many a faithful servant of Christ has enjoyed such a profitable and pleasant season of ministry. How sweet…

Like this:

At the time Peter’s letter was written there were very few in the world that had any real interest in the followers of Christ. The church was small. Congregations were just being established. There was great vocal and violent opposition to the gospel and the majority of people cared nothing for the believers. While that was true of the world, it was not true of Christ. 1 Peter 5:7 ends with a glorious statement: “He careth for you.” Those words refer to Christ, and what Peter is stressing is that though these Christians were being pressed down by trial and facing incredible hardships, there was One who cared for them like none other. Think of that phrase: “He careth for you.”

The description of Christ’s care. There are two words in verse 7 translated either “care” or “careth.” The first word relates to anxious care, whereas…

1 Therefore, since there is encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection, and compassions, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, the same love, as ones joined in soul and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The exercise of true discernment is not divisiveness regardless of that very charge by those who like to throw around the label “hater” against those who obey God by revealing the truth about their ministries to the Body of Christ. In fact, those who are being divisive are the very ones who are corrupting the truth through their false teachings…